stubborn thief

Chapter 287 Chef Luo

On the banks of the Zhaqu River, the envoys of the Khans in the eastern part of Yarkand lost their way to participate in politics, and they almost saw a ghost.

When he set off from Turpan, he had enough awareness of the difficulty of the journey, and he had done enough psychological construction for himself.

Engaging in diplomacy with Ming Dynasty, as long as it is shameless, is a very happy thing for the whole country. The emperor will bestow money and cloth, and will seal officials, from hundreds of households all the way to the command and envoy, from Hami all the way to Egypt.

To put it bluntly, ask every khan and secret of the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, and everyone will tell their official positions in Daming with one voice.

For them in the desert, with a strange and rich behemoth lying beside them, liking to be called dad is not a bad habit compared to begging for help.

What's more, it is a virtue to give pocket money as long as you call it daddy.

Of course, for the people of Greater Mughalstan, if they can grab it with their hands, they will never have a good chat. After trying, a single city of Hami has to fight for it. in the sky.

Calling him dad is a shame, but it works.

After all, Anxi is no longer the Anxi that could produce a regional power of millions of people in the past. The cold climate tortures every inch of land.

But this job is very difficult for the envoy. If Shili had to set the tone for this mission, it would be a very simple three words: pretend to be a grandson.

Because Daming did not allow his Great Khan, Abdullah paid tribute.

In fact, there was no khanate in the first place. From their own point of view, the name of the country was not Yarkand, and in many cases it was not called Chagatai, but Mughalstan.

To put it simply, in the former land of the four towns of Anxi, the tribes pretending to be a huge khanate on the surface, the truth of the chaos and separatism has long been known to Ming Dynasty.

Because Ming also regarded them as one country at the beginning, but the five brothers of Ma Heima each occupied land, each sent envoys to pay tribute, and each said that they were Great Khans.

Master Wanli was very angry, thinking that you gang of separatist regimes deserve to be called dad?All the others were driven back, and only Ma Heima was allowed to pay tribute.

In this era, the Western Regions belong to a state where grandma does not kiss and grandpa does not love.

Even Mughal Keba, who also belonged to the Mughals, was not interested in this place, and even wanted to pay tribute to Daming through them.

It has been 600 years since Anxi's hometown left the Central Plains Dynasty, and Daming only needs safety here and has no psychological feelings.

In terms of security requirements, a sweat in the desert gave birth to five sons, and the five sons all established themselves as kings and fought against each other. At best, they could play the role of desert robbers outside Jiayuguan without disturbing Ming. qualifications.

The Gobi and desert outside Jiayuguan are enough to isolate all ties to the rule. Sending the heavenly army to march westward is almost equivalent to creating a separatist regime with the same military technology.

Shili shoulders two important responsibilities, one is to pretend to be a grandson, and the other is to make money.

He wants to pretend to be a grandson to the court guard at Jiayuguan, and it doesn't matter whether Daming allows him to pay tribute, and he knows before leaving that the Jiayuguan guard will most likely not let him kowtow at the Golden Temple.

There is only one point of this mission, no matter the obedience in words or the gift of real money, it is to do everything possible to convince the guards of Jiayuguan that Turpan is still obedient.

In addition, they contacted the Turpan people who settled in Daming in the Subei area of ​​the frontier, used smuggling to conduct some trade, and made some money to make up for the expenses of giving gifts to the generals.

In recent years, the national conditions in Mughalstan have become more and more chaotic. The Great Khan was back and forth supported by the military chiefs of various places who hold real power.

The weakened secret killed the Great Khan and supported others, and the introduced He Zhuo also joined the power game.

The momentum of secret power and chaos in government is like billowing sand and dust, which can no longer be restrained, and the Han court finally becomes a pandemonium.

The war among the five Fanzhus could break out at any time. His Great Khan was the ruler of Turpan and Hami, and he had to seize the opportunity to attack westward with all his strength.

At a time like this, those poor and ferocious soldiers from Jiayuguan, who were poor and fierce, could not be allowed to go to the west to be horse bandits.

Originally, everything developed according to the script they set, and this was a mission that was humiliating and cost-effective.

Until he inquired from the Turpan people who settled in Subei that the Han people had opened a new border market east of Qinghai Lake, and many Tuidan Mongolians went there to buy and sell goods that were cheap and well-made.

This simply set him on the road of no return.

I went to Juerwan to meet Master Liu, and later met Liu Chengzu. He was still holding the tribute letter from Turpan to the Ming Emperor, swearing how loyal his Khan was to the Ming Emperor.

But they walked all the way, from Xining Mansion through Qinghai Tumed's tribe, and entered Kangning Mansion, and he knew that the Generalissimo of the Qinghai Marshal's Mansion was a rebel from the northern border of Ming Dynasty.

Their feelings for Daming are very complicated, it cannot be said that they are like fire and water, they just want to send each other to heaven.

If you walk thousands of miles to the right temple, but worship the wrong Buddha, you will lose your life if you are not careful.

Shili just wanted to slap himself with a big ear, why did he run to this place when he was full, if he died, the sweat in Turpan didn't even know where his envoy died.

Trembling and panicking all day long, Shili was finally summoned by Liu Chengzong, but the order was to let him pack his luggage and set off to other places.

The well-equipped warriors formed more than [-] cavalry teams and marched towards the eastern grassland in a huge formation.

In fact, this army only has more than [-] people, which is the entire mobile force after Liu Chengzong's Southern Expedition was dispersed.

The Lion Army stationed [-] troops in Haixi and Nangqian each, and nearly [-] township officials and garrisons were scattered in seven counties. Luo Rucai maintained law and order in Lincong, Li Laozheng stationed in Luhuo, Zhang Tianlin stationed in Malkang, Liu Chengzong's remaining army is running out.

Of course, it's not that there are no available people, Ah Liu's Yongning camp is also stationed west of Luhuo.

There are also Dai Qing and Xie Erhu who have put in a lot of effort in the war, but those people can't move now. The winter on the plateau is too cold, and they all hid to take care of the livestock.

In comparison, the Lion Army has a great advantage in keeping out the cold. After all, they are the commander-in-chief and the army. They made the greatest efforts in the Southern Expedition and received the most spoils and rewards.

Earlier, Cao Yao made a calculation to flatten a small noble manor. On average, a noble family with less than ten members can get them warm clothes for 120 people.

Not counting women's clothes, not clothes of strange furs.

In fact, the main thing is that too many clothes, quilts, cloth, felt, and fur robes were seized, so that soldiers had the power to choose. If they were left at the beginning of the army, even women's jackets and robes would be better than nothing for the people.

The Lion Army has the rules and habits of capturing and handing in. Liu Chengzong has a great tendency to choose when distributing the spoils. Practical things, such as bedding, fur robes, food and drink to keep out the cold, will be given priority to the Lion Army.

The rest was distributed to the accompanying Mongolian army and slaves, such as the clothes of the female nobles, and the jacket made of mouse skin.

Liu Chengzong had seen a few leather jackets, and one of them was a very well-made short jacket, which used more than 400 sheets of mouse skin inside and outside. The whole jacket was black and white, and was finally given to Basang.

Finally, there are precious fabrics made of gold and silver threads, Tianzhu stones, corundum gold and silver, turquoise ivory, and precious utensils rewarded by the imperial court to nobles everywhere since the Yuan Dynasty.

Some of them had historical significance and were kept by him, such as the porcelain gifted by Emperor Yongle. Half of the more valuable utensils were kept as military expenses in exchange for supplies, and the other half was distributed to soldiers and officers at all levels.

Of course, if there are special requirements, such as Wai Liangzi wanting to bring back two coats and jewelry for his Mongolian wife, Liu Chengzong will agree to them.

Anyway, in the end, no one is too rich, but they all have a few things that can be handed out.

Therefore, in the eyes of the loser, the army of the Qinghai Generalissimo is ridiculously luxurious, and all of them have horses and horses. This is not too exaggerated in the northwest, but they actually have donkeys and mules.

The most outrageous thing is that many people wear clothes while fighting horses, donkeys and mules.

What to do if you don’t wear them, the lion soldiers are very frugal people, some are old clothes that they have replaced and they are reluctant to throw away, some are rewarded with new clothes that have no place to put them, and finally they are all covered on their donkeys and mules.

They soon walked into the grassland on the edge of Lin Cong's territory, and the troops would march southeast along Niqu, with the ultimate goal of reaching Luhuo County years ago.

Liu Chengzong chose this path because he came to meet Luo Rucai, and told him not to leave the army to find a comfortable nest this winter, because Lin Cong's battle has not yet been completely settled.

Although this land already belonged to Liu Chengzong in name, the main force of the enemy army fled to nowhere after being defeated, and the winter was not conducive to the army's search everywhere, and it might take until next year to get results.

However, after training in the training camp, Luo Rucai has greatly improved in leading troops, at least he behaves like a low-level military officer.

The army was stationed on the vast Caobazi. Early in the morning, the herdsmen in the team drove their mules and horses to dig grass in the snow, while Liu Chengzong ran out to hunt with his guards.

No matter where they are stationed, they will send out hunting teams, because the land is sparsely populated, and they can often get good results. Liu Chengzong will also participate occasionally, taking this opportunity to hone his skills.

When it comes to hunting, Liu Chengzong is still an expert in the army.

Leading the horse with one foot deep and one foot shallow in the ice and snow, he saw two sika deer from a distance, one male and one female, their coat color faded to a smoky brown like thatch. Shoot three arrows and shoot down the stag.

The female deer with its baby deer ran away, but Liu Chengzong did not pursue it. Several guards immediately stepped forward, overturned the stag and dragged it to a clean place, bleeding the intestines, skinning and chopping the flesh.

Back at the camp, Luo Rucai was busy.

He bought a lot of fat and big ducks the night before, and set up a big pot in front of Liu Chengzong's handsome tent early in the morning. Seven or eight fat ducks weighing four to five catties were depilated and cleaned, boiled in water, and fished out for use. The snow water was frozen through, and a lot of caterpillar fungus was stuffed into the stomach, which made the duck bulge.

Then use a big pot to steam over the fire, pour the big bag of Cordyceps into the pot, say at least four or five catties, cover the whole big pot to the brim, pour shochu clear soup, sprinkle onion and ginger slices, stuffy in the pot After finishing it, Luo Rucai said with a smile: "After two hours, this will be ready, the commander must try it."

Liu Chengzong looked at the way he poured the caterpillar fungus into the pot, and felt that the grandson wanted to kill himself.

He asked: "Isn't this Cordyceps a medicine? How can you eat it like this?"

"It's medicine. The merchants who make arrow furnaces sometimes charge it for forty or fifty yuan a catty. It's more expensive than meat. It's not cheap." Luo Rucai said, "But don't worry, commander, this thing is in this grassy dam. They are all over the place, and there are also white mushrooms, they are all delicious things, put a few more catties, I have eaten like this before, and it is fine."

Liu Chengzong said with a smile: "I told you to come here to fight, and you just want to eat?"

"The commander-in-chief doesn't know that the low-ranking officers marched into Lin Cong to conquest. The battle situation is extremely dangerous. It is not a matter of war. They are as timid as a loach and dare not fight against the heavenly army. They use the ground to hide among the mountains and rivers. Drag me to death."

Luo Rucai raised his hand to walk around, looked at Liu Chengzong and said, "This area is three to four hundred miles away, and there is no one inhabited, with a total of thirty to forty thousand people. They want me to run out of food on this land, and I can't find it even if I dig three feet in this ghost place. To Bingliang."

As Luo Rucai said, he leaned forward, pointed his thumb to himself and said proudly: "I, Luo Caocao, was killed from the severe drought in northern Shaanxi with the commander in chief. Compared with that, what is this called? Calling the products rich, they want to starve me to death? Bah!"

"I can live to the 88th year of Chongzhen by eating wild animals and caterpillar fungus!"

"It's almost enough, you have to have a degree in bragging." Liu Chengzong waved his hand: "Why don't you live to Chongzhen for 1000 years?"

Luo Rucai raised his face: "I'm not going to be a bastard with him!"

Liu Chengzong laughed loudly, Luo Caocao just cleaned up and wiped his hands, then he looked at Shili behind him and asked, "Commander, where did you pick up this tartar?"

Liu Chengzong looked back and said: "The Turpan envoy lost his way and wanted to do business in Juerwan. He took the tribute letter to Chongzhen and went to find Nangqian."

This time it was Luo Ru's turn to laugh out loud, he raised his finger and pointed at Shi Li: "You really have it, bring the tribute book to Chongzhen to the commander-in-chief, you are promising, and I need to drink a few more glasses of wine later."

As an envoy, Shili could understand what they were saying, with an embarrassed smile on his face, and he scolded his mother in his heart.

He also didn't want to come to Liu Chengzong with Chongzhen's tribute letter. Didn't the Turpan people in Subei not make it clear? They only said that the Han people opened a border market in Juerwan. How could he know that it was opened by the rebels!

While waiting for the duck to be steamed, Liu Chengzong asked Luo Rucai and his general Lin Cong about military affairs, and then gave some words of encouragement, but he didn't question the war dragging into next year.

He knew very well that the biggest difficulty in fighting in Kangning Mansion was to find the main force of the enemy army.

If you find the main force and defeat it in one fell swoop, you will win a big victory; if you can't find it, the battle will have to drag on.

At least for the time being, Luo Rucai is doing well, knowing that ensuring the supply of troops is the top priority, as long as the troops have food, then Lin Cong will be stable.

When the local government affairs are on the right track and the people are drawn to your side, even if you don't fight, you can make the enemy surrender without a fight.

The aroma of the steamed duck in the pot had already come out. Sitting on the tiger skin, Liu Chengzong sniffled his nose, turned his head and smiled at Shi Shi: "Tell me, what you saw and heard along the way from Turpan."

　Good morning!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)